Panties



Jan. 13, 1970 LGOUJON ET AL PANTIES 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 23, 1968 F/G. 7a..

Jan. 13, 1970 GOUJN ET Al.

PANTIES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1968 Jan. 13, 1970 GOUJON ET AL 3,488,778

K PANTIES Filed April 25. 1968 5 SheetS-Sheeb 5 Jan. 13, 1970 1. GOUJON ET AL 3,488,778

PANTIES Filed April 25, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FLOW Jan. 13, 1970 1. GoUJoN ET Az. 3,488,778

United States Patent Office 3,488,778 Patented Jan. 13, 1970 3,488,778 PANTIES Ivan Goujon and John Coles, London, England, assignors to Goujon (Paper Togs) Ltd. Filed Apr. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 723,422 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 25, 1967, 19,001/67; Sept. 21, 1967, 42,995/67; Apr. 2, 1968,

Int. Cl. A4111 9/ 04 U.S. Cl. 2--224 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to panties and to an improved method of making such garments.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a panty which can be made at much less cost than the conventional garment so that it can, if desired, be treated as expendible and disposable after a single days use and thereby provide garments which are hygienically better than those which have to be washed and/or laundered.

According to the invention there is provided a panty, the whole, or at least the major portion, of which is made of a non-woven bonded fibre material and/ or paper material.

A preferred material is made from Viscose rayon fibre of 7/16 staple and comprises approximately 80% viscose rayon fibre and 20% acrylic adhesives.

According to the invention, a method of forming panties or the like comprises the steps of cutting or stamping a blank of non-woven bonded fibre material and/or paper material and then joining and/or applying elastic material to corresponding edges of the blank to form a panty.

Thus one method may comprise the steps of joining two portions of one side of the blank to form a leg space or opening and applying an elastic means to the two edges which are adjacent to the opposite sides 0f the blank and which together form the waistband adapted to support the garment in use. The two portions of the other side of the blank are joined to form the other leg space or opening and thereby simultaneously completing the waistband. The edges of the leg spaces are then provided with elastic means.

A gusset or reinforcing member for the fork or crotch portion of the panty may be stitched to the blank before the sides and edges of the blank are connected.

.Alternatively a method of forming panties comprises the steps of cutting from sheet material a blank including one or more integral gusset portions and folding the gusset portion or portions so as to contact the fork or crotch part of the panty, and joining as by stitching or glueing, the gusset portion and the fork or crotch part of the panty and then stitching or applying elastic material to corresponding edges of the blank to form the panty.

In an alternative method, at least some of the stitching may be replaced by glueing.

Thus a method of forming panties or the like comprises the steps of laying out and cutting or stamping blanks of non-woven fibre bonded material and/or paper material, feeding the cut blanks to a perforated conveyor belt, holding the blanks firmly on the conveyor belt by means of suction and passing the blanks over one or more glueing guns by which an adhesive is applied at. determined positions of each blank and folding the blanks prior to further processing by stitching and/or applying an elastic means to part of each blank.

Thus for example a perforated conveyor belt may be fed with blanks from a feeding machine or direct from a cloth blanking apparatus, each blank being disposed at a determined position on the conveyor belt and then passed to a first glueing gun where it is glued around that part of the blank which is to form a gusset for the crotch portion 0f the panty, the blank being then folded by air pressure and passed to a heat roller to press the glued portion into position, the blank being then passed to a second glueing gun where it is glued around part of that portion of the blank which is to form the top of the panty before being again folded by air pressure and passed to a second heat roller to press the glued portion of the top of the blank into position, the blank being then delivered to a container or to a transfer container for further processing.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIGURES la and lb illustrate one method of forming a panty;

FIGURES 2 and 3 show two methods of forming, from sheet material, blanks from which panties are made; and

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate one form of apparatus for conveying, glueing, folding and pressing the blanks to a form suitable for final processing.

In carrying out the method of the invention, as illustrated in FIGURES la and lb, a plurality of H-shaped blanks, indicated generally by 1, are stamped or cut from a sheet of non-woven bonded fibre material.

A gusset, indicated by 2, is formed from the same or other suitable material and is sewn or stitched to the blank in the position indicated by dotted lines.

The end portions 3 and 4 of one side of the flanges on the blank are stitched together to form one leg space or opening, and the top edge 5 and bottom edge 6 on the blank are formed into an elastic hem, advantageously a /i-inch hem.

In providing an elastic hem along the edges 5 and 6, a thread formed of sheering elastic and blended cotton, that is to say a stretchable cotton, is used and the elastic hems 15 and 16 provide the means of support of the garment.

The end portions 7 and 8 of the flanges on the other side of the blank are then stitched together to form a second leg space, the waistband of the panty being thereby simultaneously completed since the top and bottom edges 5 and 6 are connected together at their two ends. The edges 9 and 10 of the two leg spaces are then provided with elastic material.

In carrying out the method of the invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the intergal gussets 2 of the blank are cut or stamped along lines 2a, 2b, 2c from a roll of sheet material of rectangular form indicated generally by 1 in FIGURE 2.

' The central crotch portions 3A are then treated with an adhesive and the cut out gusset portions 2 are folded about the separating line onto the treated portion 3A. The blanks in FIGURES 2 and 3 are substantially H-shaped and have a central crotch portion 3A from which four flanges extend. A single reinforcing or gusset member 2 is integral with and extends from the crotch portion of each blank in FIGURE 3 and some of the blanks in FIG- URE 2. The reinforcing members 2 extend from both sides of the crotch portion 3A of some of the blanks in FIGURE 2.

From the sheet of material is then stamped or cut out the areas shown with hatched lines in the drawings of FIGURES 2 and 3 to conform with the required shape and dimension of the blanks required.

The end portions of the flanges of the panty blanks are then stitched or glued and provided with elastic as required.

In carrying out the method of the invention, as illustrated in FIGURE 3, the sheet material is stamped or cut to form the whole of the gusset portion 2 as an integral part of the blank. The gusset portion 2 is then folded so that it contacts the fork or crotch portion 3A of the blank and the end portions of the llanges of panty blanks are then stitched or glued and the edges are provided with elastic as required.

In carrying out the method of the invention, the apparatus illustrated in FIGURE 4, which is a side elevation, is used for conveying, glueing, folding and pressing the blanks, and FIGURE 5 is a plan view showing the disposition of the glueing, folding and pressing means. The blanks are fed to a perforated conveyor belt 11 moving in the direction of the arrow and are held firmly in contact with the belt by means of suction boxes' (not shown in the drawings) disposed below the conveyor belt so that each blank moves forward with the belt to a position below a lirst glueing gun 12 where gum is applied to that portion of the blank which is to form the gusset for the fork or crotch portion of the panty.

The gummed blank is then subjected to air pressure at a position denoted by 13 which lifts the tongue of the gusset portion and folds it into a position in Which it iS pressed by a first heating roller 14.

The blank is then passed by a second glueing gun 15 and part of the top edge of the blank is gummed after which the blank is folded over a folding member 16 by air pressure and the top of the blank is pressed by a second heating roller 17. The blank is then passed to a container for further processing by stitching and/ or the application of an elastic material.

Advantageously the conveyor belt speeds are variable in two ranges; in one range from a minimum of 20 ft. per minute to a maximum of 120 ft. per minute and in the other range from a minimum of 40 ft. per minute to a maximum of 240 ft. per minute, thereby providing an hourly output range of 600 to 7200 blanks per hour.

The drive motors for the apparatus are advantageously fitted with variable speed drive control and the compressed air is supplied to the apparatus at a pressure of 80 p.s.i.g., and steam for heating at 40 p.s.i.g.

Elastic means, Such as resilient threads or strips 15 (FIGURE 1), are attached to opposite edges of the blank 1 after or before the end portions 3 and 7 are attached to the end portions 4 and 8, respectively, to form leg openings. Elastic means 16, similar to the elastic means 15, is attached to the edges defining said leg openings.

It will be appreciated that the order in which the various steps of the method are carried out in the examples described above need not necessarily be specicially followed since the order described is by way of example only.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A method of forming a panty from a sheet of nonwoven bonded libre material, comprising:

laying out a plurality of substantially H-shaped blanks on said sheet, each blank having a central crotch portion and four flanges extending therefrom, at least some of the flanges of each H-shaped blank extending into the space between the flanges of another 0f said H-shaped blanks, each H-shaped blank having at least one crotch reinforcing member integral with the crotch portion of said blank and extending therefrom between and substantially spaced from, but not beyond the end portions of, said flanges;

cutting said blanks from said sheet;

folding said crotch reinforcing member upon said crotch portion to form substantially a single reinforcing layer;

joining the end portions of the two flanges extending transversely of said crotch portion and from one side thereof to form a first leg opening; joining the end portions of the two ilanges extending transversely of said crotch portion and from the other side thereof to form a second leg opening;

applying elastic material to the two opposite edges of each blank along said flanges to form the waistband adapted to support the panty in use; and

applying elastic material to the edges of said blank dcfining said leg openings.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the cutting of each blank includes a first step of cutting loose the reinforcing member, after which it is folded upon and secured to the crotch portion; and

a second step of cutting the remainder 0f each blank from the sheet.

3. A method of forming a panty from a sheet of nonwoven bonded fibre material, comprising:

laying out a plurality of substantially H-shaped blanks on said sheet, each blank having a central crotch portion and four flanges extending therefrom, at least some of the flanges of each H-shaped blank extending into the space between the llanges of another of said H-shaped blanks, each H-shaped blank having one crotch reinforcing member integral with the crotch portion of said blank and extending from one side thereof between and substantially spaced from, but not beyond the end portions of, said ilanges, the center of said crotch portion and of said reinforcing member being closer to one of said opposite edges than to the other;

cutting said blanks from said sheet;

folding said crotch reinforcing member upon said crotch portion to form substantially a single reinforcing layer;

joining the end portions of the two flanges extending transversely of said crotch portion and from one side thereof to form a first leg opening;

joining the end portions of the t-wo flanges extending transversely of said crotch portion and from the other side thereof to form a second leg opening; applying elastic material to the two opposite edges of each blank along said flanges to form the waistband adapted to support the panty in use; and applying elastic material to the edges of said blank defining said leg openings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,122,417 7/1938 Fridelph.

2,206,412 7/1940 Levy 2 224 XR 2,591,079 4/1952 Lenen.

3,032,774 5/1962 wade 2 243 3,131,693 5/1964 Gray et a1 12s-284 3,134,108 5/1964 Terry e161 2-243 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 1,224,201 2/1960 France.

1,274,651 9 /1961 France.

H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. XR. 2-243; 12S-284 

